Both Army and Navy, reacting to Harvard cadets' demands for more interesting material, schedule frequent guest speakers, usually Faculty members, both as a part of the curriculum and as part of a supplementary program. The ROTC faculty at Harvard recently participated in a review of the National ROTC curriculum. Lt. Col. George H. Garnhart met this fall with a military-civilian committee at Ohio State University to study the current curriculum. Their recommendations, although not yet made known, may be incorporated into the '67-'68 curriculum.
But no amount of clamor from Harvard's dissatisfied cadets will ever change drill. The ROTC euphemism for it is "leadership lab." Cadets simply endure most of it, for two hours every week. But those who have a chance to take charge and lead the drills say that it is trickier than it looks, and does give them a certain amount of confidence in their leadership abilities.
ROTC finds itself in a rather peculiar environment at Harvard--a community with more than its share of intellectuals and anti-militarists. The student who is interested in ROTC sometimes finds he is not encouraged to enroll.
"I have a great deal of faith in the American government, and when we're in a state of war, I know it is my duty to support the effort," says one cadet. "But I also have a great deal of faith in my teachers and professors here at Harvard, and when so many of them tend to doubt the worth of the war, I start to wonder."
Some of the cadets who have doubts about the war in Vietnam say they try to separate their personal opinions from the duties which they have pledged themselves to fulfill as officers. If they disagree with the government's policy on Vietnam, they often view the questions as one of "poor foreign policy" or "poor tactics" rather than one that raises a basic moral dilemma.
A few cadets say they feel that their proctors tried to discourage them from enrolling in ROTC during the freshman year. None of them, however, consider proctors generally anti-ROTC. "I would anticipate that a few proctors might talk down ROTC," says Harry P. Kerr '64, Faculty Advisor to ROTC, "but so far there is no real evidence of it. All we have is rank hearsay." At least seven of the thirty or more proctors have been in ROTC; these proctors tend to recommend the program if it adapts well to an individual case.
When asked, some cadets will say that they enrolled in ROTC because they believe military service is a personal obligation which they have to their country. "I owe my country a couple of years of my life," one says. Others explain they enrolled in ROTC because they came to Harvard from military schools, or because they come from military families.
Most cadets, however, offer more hard-headed reasons for entering the program. "The cold fact is that they are going to take me pretty soon one way or another," one student says. "ROTC is the best deal for me and or them. I don't want to go in as a private with a college education behind me, and it wouldn't do them any good either."
Another cadet says that he joined NROTC because he was planning a Naval career, but that he has since changed his mind. "I think there's more opportunity outside the Navy. The hierarchy makes it hard to get ahead."
In making their decision, students rarely forget that ROTC pays-and not just the $40 per month which cadets get after they have signed the contract at the beginning of their junior year. They run into monetary incentives at almost every turn. They get $120 per month during their stay at summer camp. When they are commissioned as second lieutenants they draw annual salaries of over $5000 during their two-year term of active duty--enough to finance graduate school in some cases. When they complete their active duty they are eligible under the G.I. Bill, for $100 a month while they are in grad school. Charles Fiening '66, Cadet Commander of Army ROTC, says that graduate schools often prefer students who have served as officers in the armed forces.
Few of Harvard's ROTC cadets feel that they are training to be war heroes. On the contrary, most of them believe that in the military they are learning to be managers, and they feel that a college graduate can spend his two years more profitably as a second lieutenant than as a private. The possibility of schedules and regimentation doesn't seem to bother them. After two years of standing at attention, shuffling forms and memoranda, and perhaps fighting a war, many of them will return to grad school and to the quieter oblivion of the lecture hall.
Most cadets offer hard-headed reasons for entering the program: "The cold fact is that they are going o take me pretty soon one way or another."